In Chinese society, many people have previously joined organizations affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party. When immigrating to the United States, whether applying for residency or citizenship, “whether one holds a membership in the Chinese Communist Party” is a question that immigration officials must ask. Some applicants, fearing that their party membership might bring unexpected trouble, choose to conceal this information from the immigration authorities, assuming that they won’t find out. However, during a recent seminar on immigration trends, Chinese immigration lawyer Chen Chuangchuang pointed out that the U.S. government actually has various ways to determine whether someone is lying about this particular issue.
Last Sunday, on September 21st, lawyer Chen Chuangchuang, who specializes in immigration law, held a special seminar at the “June Fourth Memorial Hall” in Los Angeles, analyzing the latest changes in U.S. immigration policy, particularly focusing on the sensitive issue of party membership among Chinese immigrants — discussing whether immigration officials will find out if it is concealed and sharing his own perspective.
Chen Chuangchuang first mentioned a recent case decided by U.S. immigration officials last week, involving Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia University, who was deported for deliberately concealing his past involvement in certain organizations when applying for a green card.
At 30 years old, Khalil was born in Syria, a citizen of Algeria, and holds a green card. He was arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March of this year, accused of violating U.S. foreign policy. He had worked at the UK Embassy in Beirut and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, serving as the chief negotiator in a student protest group against Israel at Columbia University.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy manual, if an applicant distorts important facts when applying for a permanent green card and conceals any group membership that may disqualify them from obtaining it, it will be considered as fraud and intentional misrepresentation. “If he had disclosed this information, it would lead to a thorough review by the USCIS. He knew that this information would have an impact, yet he chose to conceal it, which is essentially lying,” said Chen Chuangchuang.
Concealing party membership can also lead to serious consequences, such as imprisonment. A man who hid his party affiliation was charged with immigration fraud, facing a penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine as reported by “Sound of Hope”. Years ago, an active democracy activist was also denied citizenship for concealing his party membership in the past.
Chen Chuangchuang believes that concealing party membership poses potential risks to one’s future. The U.S. is aware that many Chinese individuals have connections to the Communist Party, and for decades, the U.S. has been collecting information on Chinese individuals. If immigration authorities discover problems during background checks, it can create trouble for the applicants, which is one reason why some background checks take a long time.
Many people believe that the U.S. government finds it challenging to gather information on Chinese individuals, however, Chen Chuangchuang argues that the U.S. government has various means of collecting information on Chinese individuals. For instance, U.S. embassies abroad have extensive intelligence-gathering capabilities and can gather information on activities of certain party branches or recognition of individuals from publicly available reports. This information is relatively easy to collect.
Additionally, some information about CCP members is practically handed over to the U.S. government. Chen Chuangchuang mentioned an incident at the end of 2020 where a list of 1.95 million CCP members was leaked in Shanghai, including members from major companies, academic institutions, and diplomatic entities worldwide. Though the database is a few years old, the information on nearly two million CCP members affiliated with Beijing and Shanghai up until 2018 is well known to the U.S.
Furthermore, in 2022, there was a data leak of information from 1 billion Chinese individuals and police records in the Shanghai public security system. Personal details such as names, ID numbers, addresses, and phone numbers of these individuals were once sold online. Therefore, for the U.S. government, obtaining information on Chinese individuals is sometimes not particularly difficult.
Chen Chuangchuang emphasized that under Title 8 of the Foreign Affairs and Nationality Law: in general, any immigrant who is currently or was previously a member of the Communist Party or any other authoritarian political party (or its branches or affiliated organizations) shall not be considered for a visa when applying, regardless of domestic or foreign affiliation.
However, for Chinese individuals who have previously joined CCP organizations, the U.S. can make exceptions in two situations: first, if within the five years before submitting the immigration application, they have terminated their membership or associative relationship; second, if they do not pose a threat to U.S. security.
Moreover, Chen Chuangchuang emphasized that U.S. immigration law also stipulates two anti-American behaviors that Chinese immigrants entering the U.S. and those adjusting their status must avoid.
The first is promoting and disseminating Communist theories, aiming to establish a Communist or authoritarian society in the U.S. An individual supporting terrorism or communism would be considered engaging in anti-American activities. However, criticizing the U.S. government or the president falls under freedom of speech.
The second is advocating for violence to overthrow the government. This applies not only to the U.S. government but also to governments of other countries. The U.S. does not support anyone using the U.S. as a base to conduct armed attacks on other countries.
Regarding the concerns of Chinese immigrants about their party membership status, the Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP website provides certified services in both Chinese and English to help individuals renounce their ties with the Communist Party, which can serve as proof of CCP disassociation for immigration authorities to consider. ◇